Morning Brief — Apr. 29, 2013

Today’s Morning Brief is brought to you by the 100,000 REALTORS® of The Canadian Real Estate Association. On April 29 & 30, REALTORS® will be on the Hill with proposals which benefit homebuyers and property owners. Visit crea.ca to learn more.

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Toews takes on media relations — Dix wants to decriminalize — Feds expected to lose some F-35s before all delivered — A tale of two tales in Labrador — Obama to nominate new transportation secretary — People find new polymer bills perplexing — And, Obama slings arrows and jokes.

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Good morning.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has apparently added media relations to his portfolio. Documents obtained by the Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act showed that he rejected a request for a prison interview with former Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr even though the warden gave it a green light — a move some are denouncing as extraordinary political interference. Under normal procedure, the warden makes the final call on granting a reporter access to an inmate, subject to a CSC policy known as Commissioner’s Directive 022.

B.C. NDP Leader Adrian Dix says he’s in favour of decriminalizing marijuana, but says it’s a federal issue that will only be settled in the next federal election. He said as the federal Conservatives push ahead with mandatory prison terms for possession of marijuana, B.C. could be facing a spike in provincial criminal justice system spending. Next door in Washington state marijuana has been legalized for recreational use.

So it turns out National Defence was expecting to lose some F-35s before all 65 were even delivered. In December of 2011, the department’s scientists published a report in which it said “that the probability of having 63 or more (F-35s) remaining at this time (when the last one is delivered) is approximately 54 per cent.” Talk about a plan not getting off the ground.

It’s a matter of he said and they said. A comment recently made by Labrador by-election Conservative candidate Peter Penashue has a western Newfoundland MP wondering who is telling the truth about the decision to have Canadian Coast Guard marine communications improved in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. According to Gerry Byrne, MP for Humber-St. Barbe-Baie Verte, the Coast Guard had previously claimed it chose locations that would both serve the marine community better and improve marine search-and-rescue capacity, and decisions were made based on an evaluation process. Penashue has a very different take on things.

Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halaqi has survived a car bomb attack in the capital, Damascus. The blast targeted the prime minister’s convoy, and there are reported to be several casualties. So far there has been no claim of responsibility for the attack.

U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to nominate Charlotte, N.C., Mayor Anthony Foxx as his new transportation secretary today, according to a White House official. If confirmed by the Senate, Foxx would replace outgoing secretary Ray LaHood and would be Obama’s first black nominee among the new cabinet members appointed for the second term. The president faced criticism early in his second term for a lack of diversity among his nominees.

As the Bank of Canada gets set to unveil new polymer notes this week, documents reveal some people consulted on the new designs found the space motif of the new $5 bill too “cartoonish.” Some were perplexed by images of the international space station and its robotic handyman. Meanwhile, others complained that the train image on the new $10 bills was a problem because the train no longer fully traverses Canada, while for others, human rights issues with the development of the railway were a concern. First world problems, people.

Here and there:

The Council of Atlantic Premiers is holding its 22nd meeting. The agenda includes regional economic co-operation, training and job creation.

The Quebec corruption inquiry continues today with more testimony from former Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer will release a report entitled an Economic and Fiscal Outlook.

Former Ontario PC leader John Tory speaks to the Empire Club of Canada in Toronto.

The Conference Board of Canada’s 10th annual pensions event, Aging Workforce Forum: Pensions, Performance, and the New Retirement will highlight the latest thinking on the pension outlook, health and the workforce today in Calgary.

The Canadian Energy Research Institutes’s 2013 Oil Conference is on today in Calgary.

The B.C. election campaign takes to the air tonight with a televised leaders debate.

Meanwhile, in committees, our friends at Alpheus Group have compiled the following highlights:

Lobbying Commissioner Karen Shepherd is slated to appear before members of the access to information, privacy and ethics committee for review of 2013-14 Main Estimates.

Bloc MP Maria Mourani will appear before the justice and human rights committee to field questions on her private member’s bill (C-452) that seeks consecutive sentences for offences related to human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

Defence committee members will convene to continue the study on the care of ill and injured Canadian Forces members.

As part of the study on employment practices in the public service regarding minority groups, senators on the human rights committee will hear testimony from executives at CFIA, Parks Canada and the Canada School of Public Service.

Review of the RCMP accountability bill (C-42) continues at the national security and defence committee, where senators are expected to question the interim chair of the Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP, the chair of the RCMP External Review Committee Catherine Ebbs, and Canadian Police Association president Tom Stamatakis.

Senators on the official languages committee will hear from Commissioner of Official Languages Graham Fraser to discuss the impacts of recent changes to the immigration system on official language minority communities.

In today’s Featured Opinion:

We have Michael Harris on the Constitution Project Task Force on detainee torture and the lessons for Canada.

Paul Adams on the political subtext of the federal government’s National Holocaust Monument.

Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei on the struggle to engender civic courage in his homeland.

And Bruce Campbell of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives on Thomas Mulcair’s bid to make the Parliamentary Budget Officer a truly independent officer of Parliament.

Few things were sacred on Saturday as President Barack Obama took to the microphone at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner. His humour-laced shots were aimed at those things in Washington that rub him the wrong way — Republicans in Congress, the media, his critics — and he also directed plenty of friendly fire at himself. “I look in the mirror and say I’m not the strapping young Muslim Socialist that I used to be,” Obama quipped at one point, reflecting on how he’s aged into a second term. You can have a look at the highlights here.